Retail Store Icon Irving Gerson Dies
Times Picayune 12-23-1996

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Irving Gerson, the long-time owner of a Dryades Street retail store whose
closure marked the end of era, died Saturday at Touro Infirmary. He was 82.
Mr. Gerson, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, opened the Jo-Ann Shop nearly
60 years ago. The son of one of New Orleans' early department store owners,
Gerson named his shop for his brother and mother, and set about supplying
clothes for chubby girls and boys, as well as Halloween and Carnival masks.

Gerson would give away free Shirley Temple pictures and books with the Shirley
Temple dresses he sold, and his sister organized kiddie fashion shows at the
Isis and the Grenada, nearby neighborhood theaters. The first baby of every
New Year was showered with Jo-Ann Shop presents.

People drove in from as far as Alabama for particular items, and Gerson opened
a second store on Severn Avenue in Metairie in the early 1960s.

"It started because our sister, Lillian, a lovely girl, was well, on the obese
side," Gerson said in 1995. "And when she had a seamstress run up an outfit,
it cost $40, and this was in the '30s! There was a real need for stylish,
affordable, plus-size fashions."

When the Jo-Ann Shop closed last year, it marked the end of a time when
shoppers flocked to the street known as "Little Canal." At the street's peak,
there were a department store, a movie theater, three hardware stores, two
bakeries, four shoe stores, a grocery, four furniture stores and many small
shops.

Unlike some Canal Street stores, the once-vibrant working-class shopping
corridor welcomed black customers during the Jim Crow era.

Gerson graduated from Tulane University College of Business Administration. He
was a member of the New Orleans Opera Association, the New Orleans
Philharmonic Symphony, the Friends of Music and Newcomb College's School of
Music.

Gerson was also known for his world-class Wedgewood porcelain collection,
which he donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1988.

He was a friend of the State of Israel and the Zionist Organization of
America. He was a part of the Israel Bonds Organization, the American Magen
David (Israel's Red Cross), Hadassah and was on the board of the New Orleans
Jewish Federation. He was district president of B'nai B'rith, was a local
member of the Label A. Katz Lodge and was a mason with the George Washington
Lodge. He was a board member and congregant of Beth Israel Synagogue.

Survivors include his sister-in-law, Sylvia P. Gerson, and three nieces and
nephews. A graveside service will be held today at 11:30 a.m. at Beth Israel
Cemetery, 4321 Frenchmen. Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home is in charge of
arrangements.